The Fated Sky
Mary Robinette Kowal has a deep compassion for her characters that puts me in mind of Lois McMaster Bujold. It's not that nothing bad ever happens, and there are certainly forces outside of anyone's control making life harder. But she does a great job of humanizing every single character, of making you feel empathy for them and understand their choices. Of pulling happy endings out of a series of compromises and disappointments. Things don't turn out exactly the way you want them to, but they turn out well nonetheless.
This is especially apparent in the character of Stetson Parker, who Elma has clashed with since the very beginning. His character arc is possibly the most satisfying one in the entire duology as Kowal deepens and softens him, expands on his back story while also finding ways for him to grow. He's not perfect - no one in these books is - but I ended up really liking him by the end. It's amazing, considering how much I hated him in the previous book.
Where The Calculating Stars was about getting a person to the moon, The Fated Sky turns it's focus to Mars. The mission is a lot longer, and there are a lot more people involved, which just means that a lot more can go wrong. When all is said and done, and looking back on the real history of our space program, it's almost amazing that more things don't go wrong. But the disasters that do happen are thrilling and devastating in equal measure, and they serve to drive home the danger of what everyone's doing.
If you've read "The Lady Astronaut of Mars", which I did before starting this book, then a lot of what happens is a foregone conclusion. Specifically that we successfully establish a colony on Mars. But the journey there is still exciting, and the cast is delightful.
Kowal has been contracted to write two more books in this series, and I honestly can't wait to get my hands on them. I may have just discovered a new favorite author, one who I'll be evangelizing about for years to come.
This is especially apparent in the character of Stetson Parker, who Elma has clashed with since the very beginning. His character arc is possibly the most satisfying one in the entire duology as Kowal deepens and softens him, expands on his back story while also finding ways for him to grow. He's not perfect - no one in these books is - but I ended up really liking him by the end. It's amazing, considering how much I hated him in the previous book.
Where The Calculating Stars was about getting a person to the moon, The Fated Sky turns it's focus to Mars. The mission is a lot longer, and there are a lot more people involved, which just means that a lot more can go wrong. When all is said and done, and looking back on the real history of our space program, it's almost amazing that more things don't go wrong. But the disasters that do happen are thrilling and devastating in equal measure, and they serve to drive home the danger of what everyone's doing.
If you've read "The Lady Astronaut of Mars", which I did before starting this book, then a lot of what happens is a foregone conclusion. Specifically that we successfully establish a colony on Mars. But the journey there is still exciting, and the cast is delightful.
Kowal has been contracted to write two more books in this series, and I honestly can't wait to get my hands on them. I may have just discovered a new favorite author, one who I'll be evangelizing about for years to come.
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